


A Funeral

by takethembystorm



Series: Tea Break [29]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-22
Updated: 2016-09-22
Packaged: 2018-08-16 15:48:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8108269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/takethembystorm/pseuds/takethembystorm
Summary: Adrien buries a friend, and reminisces.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this](http://tanyatinks.tumblr.com/post/141971395797).

Adrien stands over the little grave with his hands in his pockets. He breathes in once, deeply, and swallows, trying to hold back the tears starting to burn in his eyes.

“So,” he says quietly. “Twenty years. Twenty years, buddy.”

He shakes his head and continues, his voice a hoarse croak. “We had some times, didn’t we,” he says. “I can still remember when you were just this tiny little shivering kitten in the middle of the street. And---and then I got it into my head that I’d hide you in my bag and keep you in my room and take care of you in secret, and that worked for about three days until you woke up in the middle of class and started meowing up a storm.”

Adrien manages a little quiet chuckle. “Suppose we were both lucky that we were in Ms. Bustier’s class instead of Ms. Mendeleiev’s. She probably would’ve made me toss you out and then where would we be.”

Right here, he supposes, only sooner, and his cat wouldn’t have died of old age but of exposure, or dogs, or any of another dozen nasty things that could befall an abandoned kitten on the streets. And maybe then his father wouldn’t have allowed him a grave. Probably would’ve dismissed it as something childish, when what was needed in his view was a healthy dose of stern adulthood.  


Well, his father wasn’t here, and his father didn’t make his choices for him now. His cat would get her grave.

“Do---Do you remember,” he says to himself, “when you first met Plagg? You thought he was just a toy, or a funny-shaped mouse, or something and you wouldn’t stop chasing him around for a week. And then we were both expecting that it’d be worse with Tikki, and you just bumped your nose against her and then fell asleep.”

The memory brings up a brief, strained smile. “Plagg just wouldn’t stop sulking.”

The smiles falters as a stab of pain lances through his chest.  


“And---And then there was that time,” he tries to continue, but the memories bubble up fresh and pointed and spear him through the chest again and again, until the tears are sliding down his cheeks unabated. He wipes them away with a brusque motion.  


“Did you have a good life, buddy?” Adrien says, getting to one knee and laying a hand on the little gravestone.

There’s no answer, not even the shifting of the wind.  


Adrien kneels and listens nonetheless, straining to hear the faintest whisper of sound in the noise-consuming silence. Nothing.

He swallows and stands, tucking his hands back into his pockets.

“Well,” he says quietly.

He turns on a heel and marches quickly back towards his car _._ The Gorilla, moving a little more stiffly with his age, nods at him and opens the door; Adrien slips inside with a murmur of thanks.

The Gorilla starts the car with a quiet _whirr_ of electric motors and pulls away from the curb.

“Nugget’s gone?” Emma says. She wriggles a little in her child seat.

“Yes, Emma,” Marinette says gently. “Nugget is gone.”

Emma is quiet for a while more, then asks, “Not like when Nugget ran away for a week?”

“No, Emma,” Adrien says. “Nugget’s gone forever.”

“If,” Emma says, then stops, chewing at a lip. “If I ask Santa really nicely, do you think he’d bring Nugget back?”

“Not even Santa can bring Nugget back,” Marinette says. “We’re sorry, Emma.”

“Oh.” The syllable is filled with doubt, and Adrien suppresses a sigh. This is going to be a difficult conversation, when the time comes.

The car, filled with a terrible silence, drives on towards home, and another day.  



End file.
